Free kids' crafts, entertainment, live music at Lowe Mill's groovy Good Day Children's Festival

The festival is free, but we are accepting donations and 100 percent of proceeds will go toward building the Lowe Mill playground.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Saturday – with its sunny, warm forecast – is a good day to get the kids out of the house and outside. Where should you go? Head to Lowe Mill for the Good Day Children’s Festival, of course.

“Every year we’ve tried a different theme for the festival,” said Stephenie Walker of RocketCityMom.com, which is sponsoring the festival. “This year it’s ‘Kidstock,’ a play on Woodstock with a very groovy, peace-love-and-happiness kind of feel.”

The festival will feature arts and crafts, hands-on activities, pony rides, face painting, live music, food trucks and more. The hoopers will be there, as well as jugglers and the Huntsville Public Library puppet troupe.

Most of the action takes place outside on the green at Lowe Mill, although there will also be an indoor scavenger hunt.

“We wanted families to get to explore the mill itself and talk with the artists, so we decided to have a scavenger hunt inside the mill,” said Walker.

North Alabama’s only kids’ jam band, Tangerine Tambourine, will play live music and the day will be emceed by eco-magician Steve Trash.

Community organizations will provide live performances, demonstrations and hands-on activities at booths lining the green.

“This year’s event is the official kickoff for the Lowe Mill playground,” said Walker. “The festival is free, but we are accepting donations and 100 percent of proceeds will go toward building the Lowe Mill playground.”

About $8,000 of the needed $20,000 has been raised so far for the playground.

“Lowe Mill is a place where kids are coming now, with Concerts on the Dock and festivals like Good Day,” said Walker. “The Lowe Mill folks want a playground that is very unique and in keeping with the mill itself – a cool playground like no other.”

Kids will have the opportunity to draw and submit their best design ideas for the playground at the festival.

‘Seed bomb’ pits – a big hit at last year’s festival – are back this year, where kids can make balls of dirt, peat and seeds.

“It’s kind of like guerrilla gardening,” said Walker. “You can make a seed bomb and then toss it somewhere, like a vacant lot. It’s a way of aggressively gardening in a crowdsourcing kind of way.”

A hippie fashion show will be open to anyone who wants to come in 60s fashion (or grab a tie-dye t-shirt at the event), and the winner will help Steve Trash lead a closing parade around Lowe Mill, accompanied by the Huntsville High School drumline.